I am going to start my first boat
: and would like to learn from everyone's collective experiences instead of
: buying an assortment of scrapers.

We have several from the cheap Hyde scrapers with the reversible blades, to the Sandvik, to an industrial paint scraper with carbide blade. Each has it's place. The Sandvik is good for running down the hull 4" at a time. The Hyde and the burly paint scraper are good for taking down runs and drips where the key is to take care of an isolated high spot. They are fun to use when the epoxy is still green (little ribbbons of epoxy sliding off. Ohhhhh!!!) Get a couple different ones and play around and see what they can do.